A Better Way: Halloween Special
by corneroffandom
Summary: Luke can't help but wonder how Reid's going to spend Halloween.


This was supposed to be a future chapter of _A Better Way_ but Halloween came up quicker than I was prepared for so I'll be posting this chapter now and once I catch up to where this is supposed to be in the timeline, I'll replace it in the ABW chapter listings.

"Are you sure?" Luke asks, his hair flopping into his eyes as he leans against Reid's shoulder, begging with his mere gaze.

"Don't look at me like that," Reid mumbles, even though his eyes are closed and he can't see his boyfriend's face. "Not this year, ok? Maybe next."

"Are you feeling ok?" Luke quickly becomes serious, pulling away from Reid and touching his face, as if checking for fever.

"Hey," Reid says, grabbing his arm lightly. "I'm fine, alright? It's just been a long day at the hospital; I don't feel like walking for blocks among sugar-hyped little brats in ridiculous costumes."

Luke pouts but gives in, lightly kissing Reid. "Fine," he mumbles, finding it harder to force Reid into things ever since he came so close to losing him merely a couple months ago. "I'll text you."

Reid nods, lips twitching as he watches Luke reluctantly get up from the couch and grab his jacket. "Have fun," he says sarcastically.

Luke rolls his eyes, leaning over one more time for a deeper, lingering kiss that makes it hard for both to part from the other. "I'll see you later."

"Bring me some candy!" Reid yells after him, still a little dazed from the kiss.

The smile that he is graced with before Luke disappears from sight completely is a mix of aggravation and the deepest fondness ever and he gives himself a second to memorize the look on Luke's face before springing into action.

It had started in Texas. On one of his rare nights off of work, he had his lights off to dissuade the trick or treaters he could hear giggling and squealing beyond his door, making a sandwich in muted light, when something horrible happened. His doorbell rang.

Frozen with a dollop of mayonnaise threatening to fall off of his knife, he looked towards the door and frowned, certain it was just a malfunction. No one would dare... right? Except that as he returned to working on his precious sandwich, the chiming sound echoed through his home once more. He twitched and quickly stormed towards the door, forcing it open. "Wha-?" his angry shout came to an abrupt stop as he found himself staring at a little girl barely as tall as his knee, dressed in blue with a toy stethoscope around her neck.

"Trick or treat?" she asked sweetly, holding up her small, orange bucket.

Despite himself, he found himself charmed. "Hang on," he mumbled, ducking inside. _Do I have any candy around here?_ _Dammit, Oliver, think._ _AHA._ One abandoned package of reeses cups that one of the nurses had "let him have" (Literally, upside the head. She had a better throwing arm than he expected!) a few days ago after a few disparaging comments about her weight sat patiently on his desk so he picked them up and returned to the doorway, almost expecting the little girl to be gone by now but she was right where he had left her, smiling beatifically as she spotted the bag. "Here you go," he said awkwardly, handing her the bag.

"All of these for me?" she asked, eyes widened in amazement. At his nod, she gasped. "Thank you!"

He watched in surprise as she ran off, stopping for only a moment to look back at him with a large smile on her face.

It had continued to happen, him getting Halloween off (sometimes even on purpose) and the little girl- who slowly became not _so_ little and eventually stopped coming- returning for candy, and little by little, news spread that Dr. Oliver had the _good_ candy so more kids would come and little by little he'd buy more candy to pass out to each little face that would appear on his doorstop.

This is his first Halloween in Oakdale and he's not sure what to expect but Katie had mentioned wistfully as she moved out to live with Chris at Margo and Tom's how she had dreamed about taking Jacob around this apartment for his first year Trick or Treating so he prepares, buying two bags of candy and settling in with a sandwich to wait. It doesn't take long as a little after 4:30, he's already passed out candy to three little kids.

After an hour of this, he's so busy with a sudden wave of children that he doesn't notice the whispers as the kids start to drift to the side, messing up his order of remembering which got candy already and which still needed some. "Hey-" he's starting to snap, just to look up and up and up. As he's kneeling down to reach some of the smaller children's baskets easier, Luke looks ridiculously tall from this position and he blinks in horror. "L- Luke!" He's on his feet within seconds, looking like his skin is arguing with itself whether to go completely pale or blush hotly.

"So this is why you didn't want to come trick or treating," his boyfriend says, looking amused as he looks down at the kids surrounding their doorway.

"I, I thought you'd be out with Ethan and Natalie longer than this," Reid mumbles, eyes darting around like he wants to run but has nowhere to go with the group of children blocking his only real exit.

Before they can continue talking, one of the more brazen little boys reaches up and tugs at Reid's sleeve. "Mister, our candy?"

"Yeah, sure, here, kid," he mumbles, thoughtlessly reaching in and grabbing a handful, dumping it into his basket.

Luke just laughs and brushes past Reid, only stopping long enough to snag a peanut butter cup from the bowl.

"Hey!"

"You're adorable when you fail at being sneaky, Dr. Oliver," Luke whispers into his ear as he enters the apartment.

Reid just swallows harshly, quickly finishing up passing out candy to the remaining children before joining Luke.


End file.
